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Maple Leafs talk big game but don’t play one

Not much went right for the Leafs in a 6-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the ACC Saturday night.

The Leafs' James van Riemsdyk gets up close and personal with St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott during second-period action Saturday at the ACC. Elliott allowed but one Leaf goal in St. Louis' 6-1 victory. (Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

When the cameras are rolling, the Maple Leafs say all the right things. They talk about having a chance to play spoilers down the stretch.

But earlier in the day, Leafs defenceman Roman Polak said it was time to end such brave talk.

“We just need to prove it on the ice,” the former St. Louis Blue said.

However, once again the Leafs showed they have a hard time turning words into action.

Except for a fight by Zach Sill and a huge hit by Dion Phaneuf, the Leafs played pushovers, not spoilers, on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre.

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The playoff-bound St. Louis Blues rode a 3-0 first-period lead to a 6-1 victory.

Jonathan Bernier was terrible in the Leaf goal, chased after the first period, and Phil Kessel was so absent the Leafs didn’t even put him on the power play when they were down 5-0.

Leafs coach Peter Horachek said he sat the Kessel line in the power play by design because they weren’t doing enough. Kessel finished with only 15:11 of ice time and was a minus-2.

“They (the line) weren’t getting anything done,” Horachek said.

The coach said the team showed no effort against a good team. Isn’t that the worst thing you can say about a team?

“Yep,” the coach said. “There are no real excuses for it, and I’m not going to make any.”

Jaden Schwartz, T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Tarasenko got the Blues off to a fast start with goals that chased Bernier, who was relieved by James Reimer to start the second.

The Tarasenko goal was the killer, coming with 14.6 seconds left.

Defenceman Chris Butler stretched the Blues’ lead to 4-0 in the second period with a short-handed goal and Paul Stastny and David Backes had the others.

David Booth, with his second goal in two games, replied for Toronto in the third period.

So bad were the Leafs they didn’t get their first shot on goal until Richard Panik fired a harmless, long-distance shot at Brian Elliott midway through the first.

Since they couldn’t win in the scoring department, the Leafs decided to try to win in the physical department.

Sill won a fight with Steve Ott in the first period, and Phaneuf got the fans out of their seats with a jarring open-ice hit on Oshie five minutes into the second period.

“The score reflects the way we played,” Phaneuf said post-game. “I don’t think there’s much more that needs to be said. We got beaten in every aspect of the game.”

The Blues were coming off two defeats to conclude a five-game road swing, but they didn’t look like the weight was too heavy for them.

At the pre-game skate, former Maple Leaf Alexander Steen was asked about facing adversity in their playoff run, and he didn’t like the choice of words.

“First of all, I don’t think I’d use the word adversity,” Steen said. “We’re still third in our league (Western Conference). We’re a pretty good team.”

They sure looked like it Saturday night.

The Leafs couldn’t reverse a pattern from two nights earlier. Horachek had complained that Toronto turned the puck over 11 times in the first period, giving up two goals to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-2 loss. The Leafs ended up chasing that game.

On Saturday night, it seemed, little had changed.

For Leaf fans, they will have to wait until Monday to see if this disturbing pattern ends. The task won’t be easy, as the New York Islanders are the visitors.

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